Kunle ADELABU
-Join us in riding Ikorodu of criminals – Onyabo Provost Marshal appeals to other security outfits
It was another victory for Onyabo Vigilance Group, the local security outfit in Ikorodu, over criminal elements as three suspected armed robbers were apprehended around 3am at the weekend, at Sabo in Ikorodu.
The suspects who had robbed an Alfa, his brother and others at Adaraloye Street in Ikorodu ran into the patrolling vehicle of Onyabo men who gave them a chase after suspecting their movement at that odd hours.
The suspects are Ogunleye Sodiq, 31 year old motorcycle operator, who allegedly moves the suspects around for operations, Abiodun Williams(aka Oki), a 25 year old Ikorodu Indian hemp seller and Lanre Bakare(aka Sia), a 28 year old indigene of Abigi in Ijebu Waterside area of Ogun State.
The fourth suspect, Tunde (aka Oju ), escaped after the Onyabo team intercepted their motorcycle around Sabo area and now at large.
Two of the suspects, Lanre Bakare and Tunde, were alleged to be members of the Eiye cult group.
It was gathered that the suspects attacked their victims in his house based on the information that he has collected thrift money and kept it at home.
They took his big flat screen TV and startimes decoder as well as his phones and that of his wife and children when they could not get the money.
They also entered his brother’s room and collected his phone and over #5000.
The alfa said that they brought one locally made shotgun with which they threatened to shoot him when he told them that he did not have any money at home.
Aside the Alfa, about five other people came to the scene of the parade to claim that the suspects also robbed their shops and houses and one of them identified a small flat screen and DVD stolen from her shop.
While speaking with reporters, Lanre Bakare confessed that the gun recovered from them belong to Abiodun Williams and that both Abiodun and Tunde are close allies and usually operate together.
He also denied his involvement in the operation.
“It was Tunde that told me that he has a flat screen that he wanted to sell and I gave him fifteen thousand naira for the TV”, Lanre confessed.
“We made arrangement with the bikeman the previous day to convey us to where Tunde was hiding the TV around Iti-Liwe area in Ikorodu.
“It was on our way after picking TV that Onyabo team accosted us around 4am today and we were later captured around Sabo area”.
He said denied stolen the TV but regretted his decision to buy it because he knew that it was a stolen item.
Ogunleye Sodiq, the bikeman, in his own statement, confessed to knowing Lanre Bakare (aka Sia) on his Street as well as the arrangement they had with him to pick them up but denied being part of their operation.
He said that he is unaware of their plans and did not know who they are until they were accosted and apprehended.
The third suspect, Abiodun Williams (aka Oki), denied being the owner of the gun.
He also stated that Tunde who is at large, is his area brother on the street but denied having any criminal relationship with him or other arrested suspects.
He said he does not belong to any cult group, but confessed to selling Indian hemps which he called ‘Arizona’.
He said that he started selling it when he stopped working as a result of the injury that he suffered on his hands and has nothing to do to feed himself.
Oki also confirmed that both Tunde and Sia are Eiye cult members.
Speaking with our reporter, Mr Lanre Olabinjo, the Onyabo Provost Marshal, stated that they gathered through intelligence that hoodlums normally perpetrate crimes when it is raining.
In this wise, he stated that the Onyabo command intensified their surveillance whenever it rains which, according to him, has been yielding positive results as scores of cultists and other criminal elements have been so far arrested .
“ It was while our men were patrolling that they saw them (suspects) on bike coming from Adaraloye around 4am and because their movement at that time of the day was suspicious, our men pursued them and hit them with the patrol van.
“We were able to arrest them while one of them ran away and while running, he threw something away and upon searching the area, we discovered a gun and three cartridges but we discovered that one of them has already been fired.
“It was during the interrogation that Lanre Bakare (Sia) told us that the gun belongs to Abiodun Williams (Oki) and we had to get him arrested too.
“These are some of the people that have been disturbing our peace in Ikorodu. They are confirmed robbers. You can also see many residents coming around to identified them as those that robbed them and they are also pointing to electronic items recovered from them as theirs.
“You can see the Alfa that they operated in his house earlier today (Saturday) identifying them and pointing to his TV and another woman who claimed that they robbed her shop and also identified the LG TV that was stolen from her shop.
“We are going to refer them to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) which is the unit handling armed robbery cases for further investigation and prosecution.
“Ikorodu is now cool and calm because we have been going after these criminals since their renewed disturbances. We have arrested over 70 cultists and referred them to the Anti-cultism unit for prosecution”.
Lanre, however, appealed to other local security outfits like Odua Peoples Congress (OPC), Agbekoya and Neighbourhood Watch and others to join forces with Onyabo in stemming the alarming rate of violence in Ikorodu and its environs.
He also enjoined other suspected cultists and criminals to renounce their membership and hand themselves to his security team for reorientation monitoring.
